Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1150IR // #c1150Synthesis

"I cannot help seeing that within our ranks are men of every kind, some better and some worse, and yet if anything is won every man will claim an equal share." "it would seem too base to deny that he who works the hardest and does most for the common good deserves the highest recompense."

— In our words · Source: Cyropaedia (Xenophon)

[Use when]

You're switching from equal splits to performance-based rewards.

[Why it matters]

Cyrus could have decreed it. He puts it to the army because the spoils feel like common property, and he expects few will say aloud that the hardest worker deserves less. The commoner Pheraulas then carried the vote.

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